Cambodia's Child Sex Crackdown


Long a haven for foreign sexual predators, the war-ravaged country is suddenly taking a hard line with a number of high-profile arrests.

In his 17 years on the Cambodian police force, Keo Thea has seen a lot. But nothing quite prepared the deputy chief of Phnom Penh's anti-human trafficking police for the raid on the home of German national Karl Heinz Henning in August.

At Henning's apartment, tucked away in a leafy neighborhood favored by foreign aid workers in the Cambodian capital, Keo Thea sifted through the country's largest ever haul of hardcore child pornography. Amongst the bondage gear, handcuffs, whips and battery-operated sex aids, Keo Thea's unit found soft cuddly children's toys. There was also video and photographic cameras, and 18 videotapes, each one hour long, depicting the S&M-style rape and torture of young local children by the tall, gaunt 61-year-old and another German, Thomas Engelhardt, 42, who was arrested a day later. Eight computer hard-drives were also bagged for the court. (Karl Heinz Henning's lawyer has denied his client's guilt and the Phnom Penh Municipal Court prosecutor said that Engelhardt told the prosecutor that he had probably taken drugs at the time and didn't know what happened.)

"It was very disturbing," Keo Thea recounted on a recent morning at his small unit's headquarters. A father of two, the 35-year-old deputy police chief, who looks older than his years and stockier than most Cambodians, had just returned from Miami, Florida, where he had given evidence in the case of a U.S. national arrested and deported from Cambodia on child abuse charges in 2004.

"I am sending a message to pedophiles to not come here. I promise you, you will be arrested and sent to jail in Cambodia or you will be extradited and jailed in your own country," he said.

Strong words, and he means it. But to fulfil that promise, Keo Thea has his work cut out. Not only are resources tight to fight child trafficking, especially in the rural provinces, but the courts in Cambodia are notoriously corrupt, and whether they actually carry through with prosecutions is entirely another story. Cambodia has been a haven for foreign sexual predators since the U.N. brought peace to the war-ravaged country in 1993, and more recently , since its neighbor Thailand started its own crackdown on child sex abuse over the last couple of years. But the arrest of at least eight alleged foreign pedophiles since the beginning of this year may signal that Phnom Penh is finally getting serious about stopping the sexual abuse of children.

The arrests began in February with U.S. national Michael John Koklich, 49, who was apprehended after plowing his motorcycle into a police barricade — and badly injuring Keo Thea's leg in the process — as he tried to escape arrest. Koklich was charged with having sex with children in a Phnom Penh slum and deported to the U.S. He defended himself to reporters by saying that he only had sex with the children for "a very short period." Those working to protect children in Cambodia agree that the police force has recently shown a far stronger commitment to targeting pedophiles. But it's not just law and order that is doing the trick. A> new political will to root them out is the result of diplomatic incentives and pressures, both the carrots of international donors and the stick of the U.S. State Department, say child protection workers.

Cambodia's generous donor governments and international organizations have invested a substantial amount of money in anti-trafficking and child protection training for Cambodian officials. But the stick came in 2005 when the U.S. State Department, fed up with the impunity enjoyed by traffickers here, relegated Cambodia to it lowest tier three rating on its global trafficking report. Cambodia was lumped in with Burma, Cuba and North Korea, and Washington threatened sanctions against Phnom Penh for its inability to comply with "minimum standards" to combat human trafficking and convict officials involved.

Chastened by its international dress down, Cambodia's police started to make a number of high-profile arrests, including:

- In April, a German national was charged with sexually abusing young homeless boys in the coastal resort town of Sihanoukville; the man has strongly denied the charges. The same month, a Belgian national, who claims he is innocent, was arrested at his Phnom Penh guesthouse with a 13-year-old boy; according to Cambodian police, he had previously been jailed in Belgium on sex abuse charges.

- U.S. citizen Michael Joseph Pepe, 53, was arrested in June and charged with sexually abusing girls ranging in age from eight to 13 years. Pepe, who has remained silent since his arrest, is still in a Cambodian prison awaiting deportation to the U.S.

- Most recently, US national Terry Darrell Smith, 55, was arrested in Phnom Penh on Sept. 20. He had been charged by Cambodian police with sexually abusing (and filming 10 hours of footage of the abuse) two girls, 13 and 14, at his "Tramp's Palace" bar in Sihanoukville. The girls had been allegedly held as sex slaves for five months by Smith and his 26-year-old Cambodian girlfriend before they were rescued by police, who were tipped-off by the low-key, but highly effective, US-based anti-pedophile organization International Justice Mission. Smith's Cambodian lawyer has denied the charges against his client. Already by June of this year, Cambodia was elevated slightly on the latest State Department tables to a tier 2 "watch list." Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said that the government has its sights set even higher. "We don't want to stay on tier 2. We want to go to tier 1," he said. "We have the political will. Cambodia will not be a place for child sex tourists."

When it comes to Cambodia's new hard line, the writing is on the wall — literally. Posters on display at the airport warn foreign visitors that abusing children will be paid for with as many as 20 years in prison. Some posters tout the slogans "Turn a sex tourist into an ex-tourist" and ``Abuse a child in this country, go to jail in yours." Child predator message boards on the Web have also taken note, said the IJM investigator who staked out Smith's bar and spoke on condition that his identity remain a secret due to the nature of his undercover work.

"Two years ago, Cambodia was the number one destination for pedophiles," the investigator said. Now, he added, the Web sites identify the country as a risk. Cambodia is still a destination for child abusers but it has been surpassed in the last two years by even more lawless places such as the Dominican Republic, Bosnia and Guatemala.

"Ten years ago they would come here with impunity to do what they want and leave," the investigator said. "They are still coming to Cambodia but...they've got> to be a little bit smarter."

For Chanthol Oung, executive director of the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center, the recent arrests are a cause for celebration. But, she says, it's far too early to declare a victory against pedophiles.

Rather than cease coming to Cambodia, pedophiles will become smarter and also harder to track, as they branch out of Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville and into the provinces, such as the tourist town of Siem Reap and free-wheeling Koh Kong and Poipet on the Thai border, she warned. The majority of the country's rural areas don't have a specialized anti-trafficking and juvenile protection force like that operated by Keo Thea in the capital.

And though the government may have the political will to combat pedophiles, it will also need to allocate physical and legal resources, Chanthol Oung said. Pedophiles are adapting to the new regime, and are working together in networks for safety and studying the loopholes in Cambodia law that could see them walk free if they are arrested, Chanthol Oung warned. "They are still coming, but they are being smarter," she said. Which means the authorities will have to stay even smarter if they are to have more success rooting out "tourists" who are no longer welcome.

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Cleaning Up the Iraqi Police

Analysis: Prime Minister Maliki has suspended an entire brigade to cleanse it of corruption. But is it any more than a political gesture?

The suspension this week of an entire Iraqi police brigade of roughly 700 men is the most dramatic step as yet taken by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government to deal with its corrupt and inept security forces. But TIME's correspondents in Baghdad, Aparisim Ghosh and Brian Bennett, warn that this may be no more than a fig leaf, designed to shore up al-Maliki's political standing, rather than the start of a substantial clean-up.

Says Bennett: "Malaki's under a lot of pressure to reign in the militias and clean up the Ministry of Interior. He's got pressure from the Americans and the Sunni bloc in Parliament. Disbanding a corrupt unit of the police force looks good and proactive and decisive. He's making the right noises. The question is how far can he really go? His main political support comes from the Sadr movement, which is connected to the militia that is doing a lot of the sectarian killing and infiltrating the police. He can only crack down on this so far before he crosses a line and loses his political backing. Dissolving a police could be window dressing. It looks good. But there's a lot more to clean up."

The Iraqi police force, hastily recruited and poorly trained by the U.S. military, is widely thought to be infiltrated by Shi'ite fighters from militias that have been conducting a campaign of kidnapping, torture and murder of Sunnis. Policemen are routinely accused of looking the other way — or even joining in — when Shi'ite death squads run amok in Sunni neighborhoods. U.S. military commanders have in the past acknowledged this to be a problem in at least six of the 25 national police brigades; many Iraqis say that is an underestimate.

For months now, U.S. commanders have been planning to take some police brigades "off-line" — bring them into a training base, replace the bad apples and retrain the rest before sending them back into service. But the spiraling violence in and around Baghdad had made it difficult to implement such a program.

TIME's correspondents say taking one brigade out of action may be a positive step, but it raises some serious questions.

Says Ghosh: "First, where are they going to find the replacements for the bad cops? Al-Maliki's government has repeatedly said it aims to absorb Shi'ite militias into the security forces. So chances are, one set of rogue policemen will simply be replaced by another. Second, what are they going to do with the cops who will be fired? If they are simply allowed to go back to civilian life, they will rejoin their militias — the only difference is, they won't be in uniform."

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TIME Poll: The Foley Sex Scandal Has Hurt G.O.P. Election Prospects


TONY KARON

Two-thirds of those aware of the scandal believe Republican leaders attempted a cover-up, according to a new survey.

Two-thirds of Americans aware of the congressional-page sex scandal believe Republican leaders tried to cover it up — and one quarter of them say the affair makes them less likely to vote for G.O.P. candidates in their districts come November. Those are among the findings of a new TIME poll conducted this week among 1,002 randomly-selected voting-age Americans.

The poll suggests the Foley affair may have dented Republican hopes of retaining control of Congress in November. Among the registered voters who were polled, 54% said they would be more likely to vote for the Democratic candidate for Congress, compared with 39% who favored the Republican — a margin that has jumped by 11 points from a similar poll conducted in June. That increase may be fueled by the rolling scandal over sexually explicit e-mails sent to teenage pages by Republican Representative Mark Foley. Almost 80% of respondents were aware of the scandal, and only 16% approve of the Republicans' handling of it. Those polled were divided, however, on whether House Speaker Dennis Hastert should resign over his handling of the Foley affair, with 39% saying he should resign and 38% saying he should not.

Iraq, meanwhile, is continuing to be a problem for the Republicans. Only 38% of respondents in the TIME poll now support President Bush's decision to invade Iraq, down from 42% three months ago. A similar number believe that the new Iraqi government will succeed in forming a stable democracy, while 59% believe this is unlikely. Almost two-thirds (65%) of respondents disapprove of President Bush's handling of the war, while 54% believe he "deliberately misled" Americans in making his case for war — a figure that has increased by 6 points over the past year. President Bush's overall approval rating, according to TIME's poll, now stands at just 36%, down from 38% in August.

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Could North Korea's Nuke Test Threaten the U.N. Frontrunner?



TIME talks to South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon, the leading candidate to become the next U.N. Secretary General, about Pyongyang's provocations.

On Monday, the United Nations Security Council holds its final vote to elect a successor to Secretary General Kofi Annan, an election South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon is widely expected to win. Ban talked with TIME'S Jennifer Veale at his official residence in Seoul about his candidacy, North Korea's latest provocations and what he can bring to one of the world's toughest jobs.

How do you feel about North Korea's recent nuclear pledge? Do you think it will affect your candidacy or your ability as Secretary General to deal with Pyongyang?
Officially and personally, I am very troubled by North Korea's announcement that they would go ahead with a nuclear test. I hope this situation will not cause any problems to my current candidacy and I hope that member states of the United Nations will understand the situation. There are two possibilities: [that the tests are] a negotiating ploy, or a real attempt at nuclear testing. We are taking the necessary measures on both possibilities. I've already discussed this matter with [U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and in two hours I'm going to have a telephone discussion with the Japanese Foreign Minister. North Korea must stop these kinds of negative announcements, and they should stop if they have any plans [to actually conduct a nuclear test]. They have made a firm commitment to a de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula contained in the joint statement adopted in September last year. This is a serous breach of that commitment, to the whole Korean nation—both North and South—and the whole international community. We will take necessary diplomatic measures, as much as we can.

As a South Korean Secretary General, will it be more difficult for you to deal with North Korea, or for other countries to trust your impartiality and ability to deal with North Korea?
As I've gained a deeper experience and understanding into this complex issue, I'll be in a much better position as secretary general than as South Korean Foreign Minister to deal with inter-Korean relations. Having known all the history and background and having known people in both the South and North, I can do a much better job [on the North Korean issue] than any other person. Even though I am just a candidate at this time, should I be elected I'll take very seriously what kind of role I can play to deal with this matter.

How will you respond as South Korea's Foreign Minister to Pyongyang's latest provocation?
We've already made strong statements that North Korea should stop these provocative activities and they should abide by Security Council resolution 1695. This is a total breach of the commitment they made in the joint declaration for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula adopted in 1992, a declaration I helped negotiate. This is a total breach of that commitment—a commitment to the whole nation and the whole international community. Should they go ahead, despite our appeals, North Korea should be entirely responsible for all consequences coming from their nuclear test.

Is a nuclear test likely?
I'm not sure. We are taking it very seriously.

How do you respond to criticism that under your watch as foreign minister, South Korea's relations with Japan, the U.S., North Korea and China have all worsened? I've been frustrated by the negative perception that our relationships with Japan and the U.S. have not been smooth, although I believe we've developed a very close relationship with China and Russia. With the U.S, we've been maintaining an excellent relationship during the last fifty years; I think our relationship is still very sound and healthy. People only have negative perceptions at this time. People should understand we are going through a very important transformation period, a realignment in our relationship. This transformation or realignment comes from both countries, the U.S. and South Korea. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. has been realigning all their global forces, as part of a Global Posture Review, known as a GPR. That has affected Korea too, and we have agreed to it; it does not undermine the security situation on the Korean peninsula. We've agreed to allow strategic flexibility, while we made it quite clear the Korean government would not like to be involved in any regional conflict where South Korean people and government would not want regional conflict. We've agreed to partial withdrawal of American forces and we've agreed to the relocation of all American bases into two major hubs. These have been all important changes. Considering South Korea's political and democratic maturity and economic development, we really want to have a more mutually beneficial relationship between the U.S. and South Korea. But I think people have had different feelings during this important process, which has caused certain negative perceptions.

In the case of Japan, this is mainly because of the insincere Japanese attitude toward past history issues. Japan occupied Korea for 35 years. South Korean people—all Korean people—can never forget this. Our leadership has agreed that we should work toward a future-oriented relationship regardless of what happened in the past. But repeated visits by Prime Minister Koizumi to the Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 Class-A war criminals are honored, are disrespectful to South Koreans and other East Asian countries suppressed and oppressed by Japanese colonialism. They should have cared much more, should have been more thoughtful of neighboring countries. They should have been able to gain the trust and confidence of neighboring countries. This is the main reason why it's unfair for any responsibility to be levied on South Korea for the strained relationship between Korea and Japan. We are ready to have a committed and improved relationship with Japan. We're looking forward to this summit meeting which will be held next Monday.

Why do you want to be Secretary General?
Personally and officially, Korean people have a longstanding faith in the United Nations. If you look at the special ties Korea has had with the United Nations since independence, you'll easily understand what kind of attachment the Korean people have. Now, as a fully democratic, politically mature and economically developed [country], Korea wants to do more for the UN. That's why my government has nominated me as a candidate. I'm a career diplomat who has served our country and the international community for the last 37 years. I'm very much committed.

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Time to Close the Book on Washington Pages?

In the wake of the Foley scandal, some House members are calling for the suspension, if not the end, of Congress' venerable study program

If former Speaker Tip O'Neill still led the House of Representatives today, the Congressional page program might be shut down once and for all. In 1983, he threatened to do just that in the wake of another scandal involving a Congressman and a teenage page. At the time, the House was investigating allegations that two Congressmen had sexual relations with teenage pages. Representatives Daniel Crane, an Illinois Republican, and Gerry Studds, a Democrat from Massachusetts, were eventually censured for having had sex with a female page and male page respectively.

The scandal led to changes in the page program — including raising the age of pages from 14 to 16, housing the pages in a supervised dormitory, and establishing a page board to oversee the program. "I think we have everything under control now," O'Neill was quoted in the New York Times. "I don't think we ought to abolish the system. But I will say this: One more scandal and bam! The page system is through."

At least some members are coming around to the view he might be right. Republican representatives Ray LaHood of Illinois, Jon Porter of Nevada and Kay Granger of Texas are all calling for an evaluation of the page program, which could mean its ignominous end after 177 years.

"This is a flawed program," LaHood told TIME. "The fact that a member of Congress is sending e-mails to a page and that he can get away with it shows that obviously there are problems."

On Sunday, LaHood e-mailed House Speaker Dennis Hastert and recommended that the page program be temporarily suspended until an outside team could evaluate its security protocol. He reiterated the recommendation in a conference call with Has> tert on Monday. Hastert, busy trying to save his own job, has not yet responded to the recommendation, but both Porter and Granger have backed it.

One problem is that the approximately 70 House pages are also in school. When Congress is in session during the school year, the pages attend private, junior-level classes each morning at the Library of Congress. In order not to disrupt their studies, Porter's chief of staff Mike Hesse suggested the pages' legislative duty be suspended while they finish up the semester at the Library of Congress.

No changes for the House page program have yet been announced, though an investigation is being launched, according to Salley Collins, press secretary for the Committee on House Administration, which oversees the Office of the Clerk that runs the House page program. "It is the Committee's intention to work with the Office of the Clerk, the Page Board director and Congress to step back and reevaluate, examine the program and make any necessary changes," Collins said. In the meantime, the Office of the Clerk has established a toll-free hotline for current or former pages — and their parents — to report any tips related to Mark Foley or to the page program. The hotline is Hastert's own doing. "As the Speaker, I take responsibility for everything in the building," he said in a statement Thursday morning. "The buck stops here. The safety and security of the students in the Page program is imperative."

The House's page program is separate from the Senate's program. Approximately 30 pages are a part of that program, which is run by the Sergeant of Arms Office in the Senate. Calls inquiring possible changes to the Senate page program were not returned.

Both page programs trace their roots to 1829, when Senator Daniel Webster appointed a 9-year-old boy to be his personal gopher. Since then thousands of young men — and eventually young women — have come to Washington to run errands for the members of Congress. Like many jobs in Washington, getting hired as a page often means having the right political connections. The work is also grueling, especially during the school year when pages start class at 6:45 a.m. and can stay on the House or Senate floor late into the night.

Many pages have only fond memories of their experiences on Capitol Hill. Megan Smith recalls how much closer she got to representatives as a House page than later as a Legislative aide. "The experience was much different as a page — we were sitting on the House floor for six or seven hours a day," says Smith, 23, who was a page from 1999-2000.

Yet it's exactly that intimacy with congressmen that worries LaHood. "I think this an antiquated program — it's been over 100 years and needs a total evaluation for the sake of the kids," he said. "Having 15 and 16-year-old young men and women come to Washington, work on the House floor, and work in an environment where members of Congress if they want to can prey on them is not a healthy situation."

Of course, Foley has so far been linked via e-mails and instant messages only to former pages, not to teenagers who were in the program at the time. Which means that even if the page program were terminated immediately, the potential for problems will not disappear. But it will prove that former Speaker O'Neill was more foresightful than he knew.

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Did a Critic of Islam Go Too Far?



A teacher in France is the latest to face death threats for daring to criticize the religion and its prophet's emphasis on violence.

The French are always quick to quote Voltaire, but for the last week one of his bon-mots has been particularly pertinent: "Even if I don't agree with what you say, I'm ready to fight to my death so you can say it."

What calls the phrase to mind is the plight of Robert Redeker, 52, a writer and high-school philosophy teacher who has been under police protection and in hiding with his family since the newspaper Le Figaro published his op-ed piece about Islam on Sept.19. Entitled "Faced with Islamist intimidations, what should the free world do?," Redeker's article called the Koran "a book of extraordinary violence" that shows the prophet Mohammad to have been "a pitiless warlord, pillager, massacrer of Jews and polygamist." The very day the piece came out, Redeker started receiving e-mail death threats. In a letter to a friend published this week in Le Monde, Redeker wrote that one website condemning him to death included a map showing exactly where he and his family lived, along with photos of him and his workplaces. In the letter, published as part of an appeal of support signed by French intellectuals including Bernard-Henri Lévy, André Glucksmann, and Elisabeth Badinter, Redeker writes that he and his family are being forced to move every two days. "I'm a homeless person," he complains. "I exercised a constitutional right, and I'm being punished for it right here on the territory of the Republic."

Redeker is only the latest in a lengthening list of Europeans who have been subjected to death threats from Muslims outraged by criticism of their faith and prophet. British writer Salman Rushdie survived the Ayatollah Khomeini's 1989 fatwa only by adopting a quasi-clandestine existence. Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was gunned down on the street two years ago in Amsterdam for insulting Islam. His co-filmmaker, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, frustrated at living under constant police protection, resigned earlier this year from the Dutch parliament and moved to the United States.

The outcry over Pope Benedict XVI's recent comments about Islam, Redeker wrote, underlined that the religion was trying to stifle "that which is most precious to the West and which doesn't exist in any Muslim country: liberty of thought and expression." He claimed that France was "more or less consciously submitting itself to the dictates of Islam" by such gestures as banning string bikinis during this summer's Paris Plage, the annual beach party in Paris; setting up times when only women can visit public pools; and allowing Muslim schoolchildren to get special food in school cafeterias.

But Redeker expanded his critique from these examples to a broadside against Islam as a religion. He acknowledged that violence was commonly committed in the name of Christianity, but claimed that "it is always possible to turn back to evangelical values, to the mild personage of Jesus, from the excesses of the Church." Muhammad, he claimed, offered no such recourse: "Jesus is a master of love, Muhammad is a master of hate."

Support for Redeker has been widespread — but sometimes nuanced. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin called his situation "unacceptable," a message forcefully echoed by French newspapers and teachers' unions. The minister of education, however, said that state employees should be "prudent, moderate and wise in all circumstances" — an implicit criticism that infuriated many of Redeker's supporters.

There was a touch of blame-the-victim in some Muslim reaction, too. Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Mosque of Paris and president of the French Council of the Muslim Religion, told TIME that Redeker had made "grave errors" in treating questions of religion in a "purely subjective manner." But, he said, "we have to respond with arguments, not threats of violence. I deplore the situation he is in."

Beyond that, Boubakeur deplores what amounts to the further coarsening of relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe. "This helps the radicals on both sides," he says. "The Islamist radicals say, 'See, they're still insulting Islam,' while the anti-Muslim extremists see Islam's propensity for violence confirmed." Boubakeur wants to see more active prosecution of what he calls "acts that provoke religious hatred." The French authorities, meanwhile, are more interested in finding the people who have threatened to kill Redeker.

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Today in history - Oct. 6

The Associated Press

Today is Friday, Oct. 6, the 279th day of 2006. There are 86 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Oct. 6, 1927, the era of talking pictures arrived with the opening of "The Jazz Singer," a movie starring Al Jolson which featured both silent and sound-synchronized scenes.

On this date:

In 1536, English theologian and scholar William Tyndale, who was the first to translate the Bible into early modern English, was executed for heresy.

In 1884, the Naval War College was established in Newport, R.I.

In 1889, the Moulin Rouge in Paris first opened its doors to the public.

In 1949, President Truman signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Act, totaling $1.3 billion in military aid to NATO countries.

In 1949, American-born Iva Toguri D'Aquino, convicted of treason for being Japanese wartime broadcaster "Tokyo Rose," was sentenced in San Francisco to 10 years in prison and fined $10,000. (She ended up serving more than six years.)

In 1973, war erupted in the Middle East as Egypt and Syria attacked Israel during the Yom Kippur holiday.

In 1976, in his second debate with Jimmy Carter, President Ford asserted there was "no Soviet domination of eastern Europe." (Ford later conceded he'd misspoken.)

In 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was shot to death by extremists while reviewing a military parade.

In 1983, Cardinal Terence Cooke, the spiritual head of the Archdiocese of New York, died at age 62.

In 1989, actress Bette Davis died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, at age 81.

Ten years ago: President Clinton and Bob Dole clashed vigorously over taxes, trustworthiness and spending priorities in a prime-time debate in Hartford, Conn.

Five years ago: Cal Ripken played his last game in the major leagues as his Baltimore Orioles lost to the visiting Boston Red Sox, 5-1.

One year ago: President Bush sought to rally flagging public support for the war in Iraq, accusing militants of seeking to establish a "radical Islamic empire" with Iraq as the base.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Britt Ekland is 64. Impressionist Fred Travalena is 64. Singer Millie Small is 60. Singer-musician Thomas McClary is 56. Rock singer Kevin Cronin (REO Speedwagon) is 55. Rock singer-musician David Hidalgo (Los Lobos) is 52. Actress Elisabeth Shue is 43. Singer Matthew Sweet is 42. Actress Jacqueline Obradors is 40. Country singer Tim Rushlow is 40. Rock musician Tommy Stinson (The Replacements; Soul Asylum) is 40. Actor Ioan Gruffudd is 33.

Thought for Today: "No single man makes history. History cannot be seen, just as one cannot see grass growing." — Boris Pasternak, Russian author (1890-1960).

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